Fourth Day
by SunnyHinata
Summary: After training with Gohan for three days, Videl returns for the fourth day.


The roaring of a jet-copter could be heard echoing through the air near 439 East District, otherwise known as Mount Poazu. In fact, if you listened hard enough, it might have even been possible to hear the grumblings of Videl Satan, the driver of the vehicle. "Gohan… has to live out in the middle of _no_ where… three hour ride my ass..."

Finally the Son residence came into view, and Videl prepared to land. Really, she wished she could have flown without any technology, but she wasn't as fast as her vehicle, and she didn't want to use up all her energy before she got to her training with Gohan. Today would be the fourth day that she would be attempting to manipulate a solid orb of energy so that she would be able to use it as a weapon, like Gohan himself, and all of his other friends. So far, she hadn't had any luck in getting the energy to materialize, but she wasn't giving up just yet. Today, Videl would make it happen; she just had to!

Videl slowly ascended the Capsule Corporation's machine, eager to get started on her training and conquer the problem known as energy manipulation. When the bottom of the jet-copter touched the ground, the black haired girl cut the ignition and opened the door, jumping outside onto the ground with a _whoosh_. She capsulated her chosen mode of transportation, and then put it into her capsule case, along with a few other miscellaneous things that she owned. After checking to make sure she had everything she needed (which was nothing, when she thought about it), the girl ambled over to the side of the house. She didn't approach a door, but instead floated up towards the window she knew to be Gohan's. She peered inside, but didn't see anyone. Noticing that the window was open, she called inside. "Gohan! Come out!" She waited a few seconds, but there was no sound.

Once Videl was resigned to the fact that no one was going to reply, she opened Gohan's window wider and floated through it, hoping that the dirt on her shoes didn't get all over his bed, which was situated beneath the window. The teenager landed, and then padded across the room and opened the bedroom door, looking left and right before walking down the hallway towards the stairs that lead to the living room. "Hello?" she called. On any other day, specifically a day when Chi-Chi was home, Videl would not have come through the window to her friend's room. But, she knew that the Son mother would not be home on this day, hence the screaming for her son and the entering the house when, apparently, no one was home. If Gohan had forgotten that they were supposed to train today…

Slightly irked, the daughter of Hercule Satan abandoned calling inside the house, and opted to go outside and search. Just as she was coming around the back of the house, she saw movement in a group of trees just a couple dozen feet from the residence. Trying to focus on the moving object, she realized that it was none other than Son Goten. "Videl! Videl, Videl!" he yelled enthusiastically, practically a blur on his race to get to her. Once he got close, he stopped moving all together and stood ramrod straight, just beaming up at her. "Hi," he finished, grinning from ear to ear.

"Um, hey, Goten." Videl paused for a moment, noticing the youngest Son's attire. "Why are you only wearing underwear?"

"Me, and dad, and Gohan went fishin'! Dad caught a gigan'ic fish! But Gohan said he didn't want to catch a fishy, so he played with me instead while dad swam around looking for the biggest fish you've ever seen, and that's how he caught him!" Goten was all giggles as he told his amazing story to Videl.

"Yeah, he is a pretty big one!" Goku commented, coming out from the same trees that his youngest son had come through. As testament to Goten's story, Goku carried a rather large fish over one shoulder, holding it by the tail. The fish appeared dead and extremely unappetizing to Videl, who did not like seafood at all.

At this point, the young girl also noticed that Goku was clad in nothing but a pair of boxers. Fighting to keep down her embarrassment at seeing her good friend's father in his undergarments, though he seemed not to care who or what saw him, Videl asked why Gohan wasn't with them.

Before answering Videl's question, Gohan stepped out from behind the large oak trees, albeit quite shyly. "Well, I was… um, trying to dry myself off a bit in the sun before I came back." The teenage boy was also wearing nothing but boxers, and it would be hard-pressed to say that Videl didn't notice. She slapped her hand over her eyes and bowed her head, a vacant look on her face. Once Gohan realized that girl had noticed, he immediately reddened. "Um, why don't we all go inside so we can get some clothes on!" Gohan took off towards the house with Goten, Goku, and Videl trailing after him.

Once Gohan was fully dressed, he came downstairs to the site of Videl standing uneasily next to Goku, who had his arms in the air, as if demonstrating something. "…so basically, you start at the tail an' work your way ta the head of the fish. Hm… where'd those knives go? It's a real easy thing ta do, an' I'd show ya how, but I can't find the damn knives…" About the time that Videl looked over from Goku to Gohan, it was all she could do to not vomit. How could anyone get enjoyment out of cleaning a fish, Videl had to wonder? Gohan's dad just got stranger the more time she spent around him.

"Um, so Videl…" Gohan stood in the entrance to the kitchen, tapping one of his feet on the ground nervously. Videl stared intently at him for a few seconds, before lashing out.

"You forgot, didn't you?"

"Forgot what?"

"Well, I dunno, Gohan, maybe that we were supposed to train today? This is the fourth time I've come over this week just so I could learn that stupid technique of yours, and I find that you're not even home; that you're off playing in the woods." Videl crossed her arms in an aggravated fashion as Gohan continued to scuff his feet on the floor.

"But, Videl," Goten said, entering the kitchen, "Gohan was just being a good big brother. We was just playin' nice outside. He didn't mean to forget about you."

Videl was taken just slightly off guard at the entrance of Goten, but she showed it not. "Yes, Goten. I know you were playing, but Gohan promised me that he would help me make ki balls, and he forgot. Wouldn't that upset you if he forgot about you?" Ah, now the shoe was on the other foot.

"Oh… big brother! How could you forget about Videl? You hurt her feelings!" Goten reprimanded.

Videl went a little red at this statement. He hadn't hurt her feelings! She was just… annoyed. Yeah, and it was his fault, too!

"Gee, I'm sorry, Videl. I didn't mean to upset you; I just forgot. We can go right away!" Gohan made haste to the door, and Videl, feeling a little embarrassed at what Goten had said, followed after him, silently fuming.

"Aw, but I was jus' showin' Videl how to clean an' gut a fish…" Goku looked genuinely put-out by his son's friend's impending absence.

Seeing that Videl had had about all she could handle when it came to fish entrails, Gohan subtly commented. "Um… well Dad, Videl and I have a lot to do in training today. Maybe you could show her some other time?" The second eldest Son chuckled uncertainly and rubbed the back of his head in typical fashion, awaiting his father's reply. Videl scowled a bit, but it was forced, as she was trying to keep the look of disgust off her face.

"Okay! Have fun trainin' son. Bye, you two!" Goku began to look for his gutting knives as the teenagers all but ran out the door.

Once outside, Videl decided to try and use her anger as fuel for an energy attack. She and Gohan walked to a nice spot in the woods that wasn't too overcrowded by trees. The Son boy quietly began to attempt to make his energy into lazer-thin beams that he would be able to project from long distances while Videl took a seat on the grass, closing her eyes in an attempt to concentrate. But unfortunately, she couldn't channel her frustration into an attack just yet. She was still to focused on Gohan and all of his odd behaviors that he'd been showing lately. For the last few weeks Gohan had been even more stuttery than was usual for himself, and he was forgetting a lot of things that Videl would have deemed important, such as training her! He'd also been pretty quiet, as if he were contemplating something.

On the other hand, Videl had been acting differently, and she knew it to. As much as she would never have liked to admit anything of this sort to someone, she was becoming…. Urg, she didn't even want to think it! She… well, to put it lightly, she knew she loved Gohan as a friend, but now, especially after all that had happened with Majin Buu, she was starting to get these other feelings that she could only think to describe in one way: She must have a crush on Gohan. Oh, the shame. Videl had never wanted to become someone that had irrational feelings that she couldn't control, and that was starting to happen!

Ironically unaware of what Videl was thinking, Gohan was trying not to glance over at the girl, not wanting her to feel pressured by his gaze. But oh, he wanted to. He liked looking at Videl a lot lately, and he wasn't exactly sure why. Now, Gohan wasn't as naïve as he had once been: He'd learned a bit from going to high school with other kids and being in the city more, and so just at that moment, he realized… that he should give Videl more advice on how to form the ki outside of her body.

"Videl, I just remembered a piece of advice that Piccolo used to tell me." Videl opened her eyes, gazing calmly at her instructor. "He always said that putting emotions to your energy made you have more of a connection to it. So, therefore, it would be easier to draw on your energy when you were feeling stronger emotions. This only works for ki attacks and physical attacks, though, so trying to focus your mind for something other than those after you're completely wound up about something wouldn't really work well…" Gohan trailed, looking contemplative. Videl closed her eyes again, and tried to figure out a way for her to feel something more than a mild frustration towards Gohan.

The boy stood where he was for a few seconds, having abandoned his attempt at making energy beams and giving Videl advice. All of a sudden a thought struck him: Gohan could help Videl get wound up. Now, what were things that made the Satan girl… happy? Anxious? Mad? He wasn't exactly sure which approach to go for. He could think of quite a few things that made her mad, but hardly any that could make her happy. He didn't know what made her anxious either, so that was pointless. Best to concentrate on anger or happiness, he concluded. Or… he could do both! For one, Sharpner made Videl angry, but Gohan couldn't very well materialize him out of nowhere. Going on that train of thought, Erasa also would have been a good choice, since she seemed to make Videl both happy and angry sometimes. He could try scaring her? But then she might be scared and pissed off at him… He could try insulting her to see what she'd say. Er, or not. Gohan didn't like being mean to anyone, even if it was for their own good. So, what could he do?

After realizing that he didn't exactly know Videl to the point of figuring out ways to make her feel something strong, he decided to think about things that got him feeling emotionally unstable. 'Well, for one, her,' he though absently, almost going red in the face. After mulling it over for a minute, Gohan decided that he would do something he hadn't really thought about doing with Videl until this moment. Although, he should have thought of it long before, after the way he'd been feeling about her.

"Videl, would you go on a date with me?" There, that was sure to get a reaction. Secretly, Gohan was a little nervous, and he felt a little anxious because going on a date with Videl was something that he was sure he'd like. He'd only ever been on one date before, and that was with Angela. He thought he might have liked it more if it hadn't been for her blackmailing him part. So there, that was two, even three pretty strong emotions that he was feeling; giddiness, anxiousness, fear (for Videl's possibly negative and/or violent reaction).

Videl's concentration was immediately broken, and then it was as if some invisible barrier had come down. The possibility that he might be joking didn't cross her mind: she knew that this must have been the reason he had been acting so strangely lately! Haha! She had him figured out. Not to be over dramatic, she thought, but she could feel her excitement manifesting itself within her, causing this weird feeling in her insides. Oh, _this_ was it! The energy that she had been trying to harness up until this point was evidently spurred by Videl's happy feelings of figuring out Gohan's behavior and being asked out by the person she was sure she liked, and it was now more than dully pulsing within her: it was a white-hot lightening that licked at her insides. The light grew, and, in the span of five seconds, it was too much for Videl to handle. Almost involuntarily, her hands rose straight up into the air, and the energy swept through her, travelling from her legs, through her chest, and out form her hands. What appeared on her palms was an orb of ki that was immediately shot high into the sky and away from Videl so quickly that it was impossible, by the standards of someone maybe thirty feet away, to tell that it had ever come from the girl's hands at all. Videl, quite ecstatic at that moment in time, turned to Gohan with just about the biggest grin she'd ever had on her face.

"So," Gohan began, smiling bashfully, "I'll take that as a yes?"


End file.
